Rocktron Austin Gold

It has the traditional set of controls, but the pre bass control is a bit different from a traditional tone control (the name is different too): it adds only bass frequencies to the sound (and in a good way). Drive works a normal gain control and Level is the (loud) output control

The guitar sound comes out ringing as a bell. Very clean and dinamic. The prebass, as I just said, only adds basses, so the tone of the pedal stays always wonderful on the mid and highs.
Dinamics are very good, even at maximum gain it cleans up very well both from guitar volume and picking strenght changes.
Gain may seem limited, and it is actually; anyway pushing a tube amp's clean channel, with max gain and some basses, gives a modern and articulated distortion (maybe not metal, but mean).
As a booster it works great, but I don't use it much for that.
With prebass set to zero it can substitute a Tube screamer perfectly - but a bit more articulated and shiny - whith prebass up it starts to change caracter and becomes something on his own.

It seems built quite strong, but it is not the truth.
I have it from six month and the output jack got loose. It has bad plastic jacks.

I am a bit scared in playing out with it (but it sounds good, so I have to be strong and have faith).

It sound very good.I wish it was built better. Anyway it changed the way I hear my sonud and other overdrive/distortion pedals.
It may seem strange to say it about this pedal, but it is very flexible in some ways. Only if you don't need high gain sounds.
The prebass is probably the best "tone" control I ever found in a drive pedal.
I use it with two fender guitars (single coils and (neck) humbukers) in an octave pedal and a delay. amps are a tube marshall jubilee combo, a valve junior, and some transistor amps at reharsals.

I bought this over five years ago hoping for a light distortion pedal. For that, it sucks. Most recently I put the AG in front of the chain to give a clean boost (drive set at about nine or ten o'clock). Used this way, it really punches up echo, trem and fender reverb tank signals nicely.

I leave it "on" all the time.

As a siganl booster, I detect no coloration.

nice, cheap boost box.
oops, its OOP.

Rather simple chicken beak knobs.

I don't like TS sound, for some reason. I can see why people may like it, and I'll play it for about 30 seconds and start to get a feel for what is good about it, then I'm done.. This pedal is a TS with cahones. I use it through a Marshall Lead 12 fed into a Crate 33 W V series Class A. Favorite artists, not sure? My sound is my sound.

I like this line of products, except for the Heart attack pedal which is also advertised for guitar and I tried to return it and MF wouldn't take it back and just returned my $ and I kept the pedal. The Nitro is my go-to must have pedal.

nope. nada. none

After 25 years of playing, I have settled on a TS. I like OD, but not distortion. Or actually OD fed into DS. I have Boss OD Super which is the original and is just that. TS tried to perfect the sound. Then I have DigiTech Bad Monkey which is TS perfected. The Austin Gold is the next in line, which is all of the former perfected. I would imagine that it is similar to the likes of a boutique pedal at rock bottom cost.

It's an overdrive pedal not much easier then that to use. The pre bass knob is a Godsend.

I use this with my Rivera Clubster, and Rivera Fandango. There is no noise with this on the clean channel. If I use it to push the high gain side there may be noise but it is coming from the amp. This get go from smooth to raunchy twangy texas crunch. This is not a distortion pedal, it is an overdrive pedal and it does a great job at that. I love it with my strat and my tele.

Never had one problem. My voodoo labs pedals have all had switches go out, my grean screamer has had a switch go out but this thing is rock solid.

Never needed it so I would say that is the best support you can get.

I play everything from Jazz to Metal. My guitars range from Ibanez S Prestige, PRS Tremonti, US Strat, to US Tele. I like warm sounding cleans to creamy overdrives. I like nice Marshal Crunch to heavy K-Tre thunder. This pedal is perfect for the creamy overdrive, and the raunchy lite crunch. If it could have anything else it would be a distortion button to push it into the searing lead tone. This is the best overdrive pedal I have used this side of my OCD.

easy to use if you aren't to picky about getting just the right tone. The tone control is VERY limited and there is no control of the treble.

I agree with raygun a few reviews down. The tone is brittle and bright. I play mostly fender jazzmasters, teles, strats, les paul specials. I don't like humbuckers and this pedal doesn't like single coils.

I had been wanting to try this unit for a few years and jumped on one that was being clearanced.

I really didn't like it at all. I would call it more of a treble booster than an overdrive. If you looking for an overdrive for a very dark amp or use only the neck humbucker on a les paul this might do the trick.

The pedal is cheap so worth a try but I would take a run of the mill tubescreamer clone over this any day.

I have had mostly good luck with rocktron pedals but have had one develop a short on me with light use.

For the price it's not garbage but there are so many overdrive pedals out there and this one doesn't stack up in my opinion. For my money the cusack screamer is a much better overdrive. Granted it costs a lot more. In this price range I would just get a ts10, ts7 or sd-1.

Simple operation. 3 Knobs: Level, Drive, Pre bass

First, this is not a distortion pedal, its an overdrive. My effects chain is thus: Dunlop Crybaby>> Tube Works RealTube>> Autin Gold>> Ts-808>> Boss chorus>> Boss TU-2>> MXR micro amp>> MXR EQ>> 1967 Sears Silvertone Twin Twelve. I play a 1952 telecaster reissue with too many mods to list, a DeArmond M75 (great guitar), and a Gibson SG Classic. My band plays everthing from classic rock, to classic country/rock-a-billy. The tone of this pedal is very useful to add a slight boost and a sparkley, gritty overdrive. It nails the "TomPetty" type of sound as well as being perfectly suited for the classic rock-a-billy tones of the old days. This pedal is a gem. The pre bass is great for fattening or thinning out your tone. You can get the Who's " I can't Explain" type of honk, or roll the pre bass up and you have the early Rolling Stones " It's All Over Now". I don't have much luck combining it with my other overdrives. It gets too muddy. If you play texas blues or country twang, this may be all you need.

Built tuff, never had a problem with it.

N/A

Great pedal. You have to fiddle with it to find the sound you want.

easy to use, i perfer battery over adaptor ps.3 knobs to adjust level,gain.bass cut.foot switch turns it on or bypass,unsure if its true bypass but i didn't notice a loss of tone when off?

got this used just to check it out hear it, im a curious player schooled on real tube tone and wondered if it was a tube emulator type over drive or a boost type pedal to push more gain out of the amp.well i turned up the gain all the way and it was pathetic?.it did color the sound a bit in a tubey way.sorta a classic marshall clean head getting pushed a little hard to a soft clip.ok i guess its a clean boost type for pushing an amp without coloring the sound too much also the bass cut knob comes in handy to mod your heads low end gain responce and tighten up the sound.but wait before i decided to try it as a tube head overdriver i grabed my ts-9 to see what it could do getting a boost.as useual the ts-9 drove it into the next level of gain,now it was crunchy and warm,had a nice grawl and i was able to blend alot of tube scremer gain into it without it getting too fuzzy as long as i kept the ts-9 tone on the low side this sound was great,cleaned up well from the guitar volume and i can get from a classic overdrive distortion to even a heavy metal tone with a little eq'ing from the amp.nice grawl and thight even with the bass cut off.great for rythum but still not dripping with harmonics on muted notes but very quiet and articulate.so i found a good combo a ts-9 into this was a great tubey crunch machine to classic rock depending on the controls,2 gains and a pre level(ts-9 volume).alot of variations available.so i have to ask all these manufacturers out there why don't they build pedals like this with a ts-9 type circuit built in there already to give it a lead channel boost channnel;.seems logical to me.well i will keep pluging pedals together to find combos that really kick.i hardly find any that dont sound better combined with others.if you know how to use a ts-9 correctly-meaning volume pegged 100%,gain low to 30% and tone 0-40%max its perfect at enhancing gain without changing the character of pedal its feeding.i love the austin gold while its shacking hands with my ts-9 but alone its ok for that mild colored soft clipped guitar stuff like blues to china grove type rythum sounds.tap away and you have 3 different channels of tones to boot as this combo goes.i'll give it a 10 for not farting out or buzzing away under alot of ts-9 boost and morphing into a really good tubey heavey tone machine with guts and attack that i found unique but familiar with warmth and ability to clean up from the guitar volume which is one of my must have features for a 10 any day.

i give it a 9 for the sturdy modern looking chassis with recessed/protected control knobs,your typical push botton foot switch and hey when i bought this used i was told its not working so i thought i would have to fix it?.put in a batt and it worked fine?.oh i get it the last owner could not get any gain/distortion out of it or what he expected so he thought it was broke?.heehee,not a 10 becouse i hate the plastic nuts and the input and output jacks.the nuts always seem to get loose and wonder off when you least expect it?DAAAA where did that nut go?i bought a bunch of plastic nuts of digitech on line parts to never worrie about them.

no opinion i fix these things my self pedals are simple dont need customer service.

overall i give it a 8,for mislabeling it an overdrive?.maybe things like this should be called overdriver pedal not a really useful pedal on its own for creating a sound but works great in combo with a tube screemer or as an amp booster(overdriver pedal).capesh?

Three knobs, pretty easy stuff.

Occassionally I would see someone saying how great the Austin Gold was, so I had a credit at Musician's Friend and figured I'd give it a try. This is absolutely one of the worst overdrives I've ever heard. It made my tone extremely brittle sounding. There is a significant amount of boost available, but to get the maximum you have to turn up the gain. The gain sounds extremely fake and fizzy. The lack of a tone control is a problem. The pre-bass allows you just to take low frequencies out before it hits the clipping stage, but doesn't allow you to turn down the brightness.

Rocktron seems to make pretty solid products, I wouldn't be concerned about it breaking.

If you need a boost that makes you sound like crap, this is the pedal for you. If you need really terrible sounding drive, pick up this pedal. I'm giving it a 4 because I'm sure there's even worse junk out there.

Childsplay! Simply 3 knobs with very noticable results when one is turned...Level - Drive and PreBass. And of course the footswitch to make it happen. It comes with a good manual but then...who needs it :)

If you play old R & R, blues and Country, this pedal becomes precious immediately after you try it. It was the missing link in my tone. The overdrive give me the perfect sound of bands like BTO (Taking Care of Business) and new Country simply ROCKS! And it also provides an ever so sweet blues tone. I use a Fender Deluxe 1977 with a TRUE BLUE 1969 Thinline Tele. I have a humbucker at the neck and this pedal brings out such a sweet tone. And no noise at all AND better stil...my Tele still sounds like a Tele.WOWOWOWO. I have been playing for over 40 years and just can't believe I was missing such a great sound. Can't wait to use it at our next gig here in Moncton, Canada. I play lead with County Line and our website is countylineband.ca

Just got it but it's built like a tank!

Again...just got it.

Overall I will give it a 10+ .. highly recommend this pedal. soon as I plugged it in I was amazed at the tone. I would buy it again if stolen or lost. Try it and your playing will improve. Bought it on ebay for $57USD..this was a bargin as I believe it's worth twice as much. As we say here in canada "Gotta have one EH?"

It's simple, only three knobs, it's easy to get exactly the tone you want, the one thing that really does bug me about it is the fact that you have to unscrew the battery case to change batteries.

Perfect. It's exactly the subtle overdrive I was looking for as a nice boost for playing lead. I find that the Boss Blues Driver and the Tube Screamer are great for a bit more drive, but tend to degrade the sound quality when you have the drive turned down. This one enhances it perfectly without adding too much drive so you're still playing almost clean, but with a much hotter tone.

I've never used it at a gig, just once at an open jam. It seems pretty solid, but I've only had it for a few weeks.

No need to rehash descriptions?the other reviewers have done a great job. I just wanted to put my two cents in about another great use for this pedal. Overall, it's pretty easy to use.

I bought this pedal to address problems I?d run into when using both single coil and humbucker-equipped guitars on the same gig. I use humbuckers about 80 percent of the time but I?ve got an EMG-loaded Strat copy that periodically makes its way out of the case. Using both types of axes generally required adjusting the amp?s e.q. and volume to make up for the differences in tone and output. Not convenient.

After years of wrestling with the challenge, I figured that I?d probably be o.k. if I could use an overdrive pedal to provide a moderate boost to volume and gain. My Reverend Drivetrain II and Barber Direct Drive were great, but I like them more for straight-up overdriven tones. I even tried Rocktron?s Big Crush compressor which sounded good but wasn?t what I was looking for, either.

The Austin Gold fit the bill perfectly. For single coils, it?s a great signal boost and I just use it with the Barber or Reverend pedals to get some dirt. It won?t make single-coils break-up too much unless your amp is doing it already. But you can use it to get some decent honk and chang for some of your alternative and roots rock. Shortly after I got it, it made me play my Strat?s bridge pickup for an hour on Bo Diddley and open-chord stuff ?cause it sounded so good! I generally don?t use bridge single coils for much of anything.

To date, I?ve used it with my Heritage Patriot 50 1x12 combo, my Guytron GT100 head and my Reverend Kingsnake head and 2x12 cabinet. Everybody got along fine! Also, when I use it with humbuckers, the pedal kicks a serious Tube Screamer vibe, adding a respectable amount of snarl. It also has the bonus of an adjustable low-end to prevent the muddies.

Tonally speaking, the pre-bass control can really help you get that Texas honk and twang if you?re amp isn?t doing it naturally. I generally set it at mid point (plus or minus a bit, depending on the room and the axe I?m using) and go from there.

Only had it three months...too soon to tell. but I doubt it.

Right now, I'm primarily doing praise and worship music at my church, which requires that I tap into a variety of styles, including rock, R&B and folk. I've been playing now for nearly 30 years.

I dig the fact that for 70 bucks, I got a pedal that I can use in a variety of ways and sounds good doing it. The manual says it all: ?This pedal is designed to work with your amp?s overdrive to kick it over the top.? With that in mind, you really can?t go wrong if you buy this pedal. With a little knob twiddlin', you can probably get a few good uses

Traded it for a Carl Martin Boost/Kick , it is the older model in the bigger chassis.
Three controls , Level , Drive and Pre Bass.
Simple.

Using this pedal because the crunch channel on my TSL is very muddy.
Use mainly with a Strat or a JR Mosrite.
The Austin Gold can deliver a huge amount of cleanish signal boost , and the ability to add just a hint of extra drive and add/subtract bass frequencies make this thing perfect for hitting the front of a valve amp hard.It makes a massive difference to the sound quality without altering your fundemental tone.
Please note that some reviewers feel this pedal is too trebley , not so - subtracting bass is NOT the same as adding treble.

Very solid casing , recessed knobs , plastic jack sockets though , and the 9V is on the side.

Never dealt with them , dont suppose they would be interested.

Think this pedal could help most valve amps regardless of musical genre , it is an ideal front end booster to help you get your pre amp gain down and master volume up on your amp.For those of you who like that pre amp on 10 , master on 1 , wasp-in-a-jamjar sound , dont even consider this pedal , but for those who like to hear all the notes when you play chords , even with some drive , you might like this one.

Three knobs easy right....Not as easy as you think. They are interactive. That means your drive knob can and will change your level and your pre-bass knob will change the sound of your drive and amount etc... Play with it. It's fun... Manual is just about worthless,but I never read them anyway. This is a chinese model recently made within the past 2 years. With that in mind have at it and tweak until you hear something you like. Something you like will come out of this pedal. I promise. Even if you like death metal or whatever this pedal is so versital it's not even funny. The other note I should probably make is that this pedal is almost never on by itself. I use it in conjunction 9 times out of 10 in front of my amps distortion or a distortion pedal. As a stand alone pedal it is so/so and is not for slipnot fans...etc... if you play that sort of music you still could use this pedal as a boost pedal which it does very well...

I play a Dillion dr 500 with dimarzios into a stereo rig with 2 Fender deluxe 112's or into a Laney gh50l II and a Fender 4x12 cab loaded with eminence legend speakers. The Laney is loaded with all electroharmonix tubes. THIS IS THE BEST BOOST PEDAL AT ANY PRICE. It is noisy in this capcity,but so are compressors and so are tube amps and so are flangers and phasers...My point is so what...This thing kicks the crap out of any tube screamer I have ever owned (even expensive mods) which they should be ashamed charging that much for those things knowing that product like this is out there.I feel used for having paid the prices for modded drive units at one point in time.I still like Barber and will never get rid of my burn unit.Barber stuff is worth the money,but beware of those other custom/boutique guys.This thing really shines as a boost with the drive kept low or even off. This pedal can greatly enhance the sound just as a clean sound enhancer which it makes no noise (with the level kept low) in this capacity. and as a stand alone drive it has sounds like Joe Walsh, Eric Johnson and Jeff Beck built right into it.Metal guys use this thing as a clean signal boost. This thing can super charge a solo like nothing else I've ever heard. Yngwie like clip at the top end if you like ,just play with the pre-bass. Very beautiful piece of equiptment. I have it in front of a boss ds1 . Holy cow I didn't think I could sound this good and I'm getting noticed because of this pedal. I was happy with my rig. I was just looking for another inexpensive overdirve that would contrast my boss sd1 a lil and would be an inexpensive back up ...not that sd1's are expensive. This thing might as well be made out of gold.

I've had it about a year using it heavily ....It gets stepped on a lot because it's mainly my boost pedal for solos or really cool riff like passages...NEVER FAILED. I have played it out with no back up and will continue to do so...

neer had to

This pedal is a real winner singing leads and screaming harmonics when used as a boost pedal. Shred heads..if you are into Vai Satch Yngwie or Petrucci this is your boost. I have nailed just about every one of their tones with this pedal. Blues dudes this pedal should be awesome for you. Jazz guys can probably even use this to add a very small amount grit to their sound or enhance their signal. Country folk will like how she cries. Rock dudes should have no quams with dialing in a groovey grind that will bring a smile to their faces. Remember ...a pedal only sounds as good as the amp and speakers you play it through...and unfortuanly ability is a huge plus.If you are on a budget and lack a good amp this pedal will greatly improve your overall sound. However instead of buying this pedal save up your money and get a good amp you really like then BUY THIS PEDAL. New players or those with less experience probably will not like this pedal at all. If you have chops and know it,this pedal can greatly enhance your sound and it magically does it all with out killing your core tone,which you may already like. That's the kindda pedal this is... I play whatever I want because I can now and this pedal is as close as it gets to a do it all unit. I'm pretty convinced that there is not a song in which I could not find a way to use it. If I had to pick one overdrive this would probably be it,just because you can do so much with it once you know how to use it. The best way to describe it is that it's like being able to dial the grind in right where you want it and then boost it!!!

Hard to make it sound bad, I'd have to say. Not one of those pedals that take a long time to learn its' "sweet spots".

Using a G&L Legacy Tribute-->Crybaby wah-->MXR Dyna-Comp(both knobs dimed)-->Austin Gold-->clean channel, preamp level 10, boost knob pulled out (~6-8 db clean boost) of my Seymour-Duncan 84-40 40W all-tube (4->EL84/6BQ5 power)1-12 combo.

I play blues in a working (mostly :-P) band. Played for almost 35 years.

This pedal works great in my lineup, allows me 3 sounds..clean, Dynacomp dimed-out which just brings the amp to the edge, just the Rocktron AG/Dynacomp off for a small boost and edge, and then, kicking in the Dynacomp to drive the AG, which gives me a beautiful sustain, with that SRV-style natural breakup that has plenty of definition so that chords don't turn to mush.

Very dynamic, play softer/guitar vol down, cleans right up for those quiet solos where the band drops to a whisper, before dropping the hammer. I plan on dropping in a switch for true bypass, my only niggle, along with plastic-collared 1/4" jacks which always manage to break in time. Noise wasn't problematic.

I gig about twice a month with this pedal. No problems so far, extruded-aluminum housing is nice..it's tough and tends to stay where you put it if you use it alone without a pedalboard. See above regarding plastic-collared 1/4" input/output jacks, though. Not sure if the earlier versions had the same jacks or not.

Can't say at this point, it works.

Overall, a great bargain for a great-sounding pedal, notwithstanding the plastic-collared input/output jacks and not-true-bypass issues.

Great pedal to drive a tube amp with. If you drive the AG with a compressor, it reacts much like a tube amp, very dynamic...it fattens up without losing definition and turning to mud..great for those screaming blues solos at small club levels.

Only 3 knobs.

Late '60s and early '70s Fender Stratocasters through Marshall tube heads (Super Lead and JCM800) and Marshall 4x12 cabs.
Pedals are only a Fulltone Full Drive 2 and the Austin Gold for clean boost (recently replaced by a '70s MXR Dyna Comp script logo).
The Austin Gold doesn't color the sound that much, but, since I play single coils, the added treble that the pedals gives bothers me when soloing.
A bit noisy even when used for a rhythm (not solo boost).

Just replaced it...
Still have it because you never know...

Good for solo boost and not expensive.
I prefer other brands today (Fulltone).

Deca

http://www.barangarock.com.br

basic pedal..level , drive, and pre bass...which doest seem to have any bottom end.

ok....this is a 1 demensional pedal.... it is a clear,clean drive which simply has way too much high end...compare to a dod 250 for less $, which is far more creamy and well rounded. if you are looking for a jangly,trebley sounding clean overdrive this will work...there is hiss however when level or drive is past 12 o'clock if using the overdrive setting on your amp.

rocktron does make some solid products... i own the tsuami chorus and the short timer...both outstanding. this pedal and the pulse trem are both truely inferior products

good customer support

if you are looking for a clean overdrive look elsewhere...this is an inferior product..no depth to its sound...just treble...kind of a one trick pony...should be called a noisy treble booster.

Beyond easy to figure out. GREAT TONE!

So far I can't find anything wrong with this pedal. It's transparent & delivers great overdrive tone. The bass knob really does the trick. Plus you get a great volume boost for solo's. For a Hard Rock/Punk Rock pedal this can not be beat. If you have UFO, Thin Lizzy, AC/DC, Redd Kross type tone, then buy this pedal for solo's.

The switch is having some isseus.
Rocktron sent me a new one in the mail FREE!

GREAT SUPPORT!
Any company that will send out a part for free
is doing their job to help customers.

I have had just about every Overdrive/Distortion pedal available (really). This pedal almost is a cross between a MXR Micro Amp & a DOD 250 Preamp pedal (I have both). It gets the volume boost of the Micro Amp with the sweet gain of the DOD 250. Most Overdive pedals have far too much gain for me. I run my amp with overdrive to start with, so Gain on top of Gain equals out of control poop tone. The only Overdive pedal I still own is the DOD 250, but it has No LED indicator light & not as much volume boost for live situations. This pedal does it all. I don't know where the hell Rocktron came from, but they sure did their homework on this pedal.

Simple to use, simple to get a good sound; 3 knobs: Level, Drive and Pre-Bass; Red "on" indicator light. Simplicity is good, I like pedals that easy to understand and use. To me, the knobs work like a Marshall Amp top: they are interactive, which means, when you adjust one, it affects the others. Takes a little getting used to. The Pre-Bass knob is obviously unusual but works nicely to roll back or add bass to the effect. Works for me. My Austin Gold Overdrive pedal is a brand new unit made in China. Has a gold-copper finish; more of a square shape, rather than your typical Boss or Maxon pedal.

First of all, I'd like to thank all of the other contributors who took the time to write reviews on this pedal, which helped me to find this great pedal with relative ease, considering how many distortion pedals are out there. Having owned and used many other distortion pedals over the years, I progressed to the point where all I wanted is a pedal that would add a mild to moderate amount of crunch to my guitars without changing the sound of the guitars themselves. I play an Epiphone Supernova and a homemade SRV Strat. Unable to afford the mystical and elusive Klon Centaur, my search was on. I have owned and used the Ibanex-Maxon pedals and they sound fine, but, they do change the sound of the guitar you are playing a bit, and bring up the distortion level rather quickly. I owned a Marshall Bluesbreaker pedal too for a while but all it offered was a super clean high level volume boost, or over the top distortion. If you like the ability to dial in all sorts of distortion, all those other pedals are fine. But the Austin Gold is a different breed altogether. It does maintain the sound and character of the guitar you are playing and allows you to dial in a mild to fair amount of "natural sounding" crunch. My Strat still sounds like a Strat, and the Epiphone stays woodsy with this pedal on. Excellent! It takes a little practice to get exactly where you need to go, but it delivers. To my ears, it adds absolutely no noise to the line either, whether on or off. The only thing I don't like is that, when engaged, the pedal does add a bit of additional volume instantly and you have to compensate. If you're doing a blazing lead, fine. But if you are trying to maintain your normal playing level, it can be a little tricky.

Have owned it about a month. Play only indoors in my house. Seems to be built very well. The footswitch and knobs seem solid. No problems so far. I use it with a Hot-Spot adaptor.

Have not needed customer support.

I am an amateur at home player. Allmans, Clapton, Eagles, Doobie Brothers, etc. This pedal works fine for me. I retired my Maxon OD-808 for this pedal. I tried them side by side and I loved the clean sound of the Austin Gold. At this price, the pedal is definately a find and I would replace it with another if something happened to it. If you are looking for transparent, clean boost to mild "clean" crunch, I recommend it highly. Thanks Rocktron!

Deceptively simple. This pedals is meant to push a tube amp harder, not make a SS am sound like a tube amp. I play mostly through a peavey ranger 212 tube amp (modernized version of a fender twin) It is pretty easy to use, but i suspect many people try to use it in a way it was not intended.

This is really a great overdrive re-think on the part of rocktron. Overdrives typically need to cut bass. This pedal allows you to control the attenuation of the lower frequencies, and has no treble control. It is a fairly tranparrent effect, so it doenst really need treble control.

I would say i keep this thing on about 70% of the time. it makes playing fun somehow.

The bypass on this pedal seems to steal some highs though. so it gets an 8 really an 8.5, but an 8 none the less. I think it could be converted to true bypass pretty easilly.

rock solid. better than boss.

Rocktron may not be as friendly as they were a few years ago, but i have emailed them a few times in the last couple years, and every time gotten a quick friendly response.

my set up has simplied over the years. I use a musicman axis, 535q wah, austin gold, subdecay stupid box, small clone and boss DD3. the ausin gold gets the most use. it is a great tone shaper.

Easy to use.

I bought it as a clean preamp for my bass.
Worked very well through 400 watt poweramp and 4X10 cabinet.
I am now playing a Telecaster with my group.
Even though I love the Telecaster twang it does not sound good playing rhythm.
Too bright.
The Austin Gold changes my sound completely from twang to heavy.
I do not use it for distortion and I use very few effects except for spring reverb.
My amp is a 1989 Marshall half stack with EL-34's biased for the most clean headroom.
If I do want distortion, which is rare, I use an 808 Tubescreamer.

steel.

??

It is one of the few clean booster pedals available.
I have been playing for 40 years.
Rock, Blues, Jazz, Country etc..

10, turn knobs and go,manual talks of transparency of original tone and its true-for once.

old 295 p-100 &p-90. i play jazz and then go blues. i get hysterical if my tone changes and this thing keeps it- no kidding. sound is great but its for slight-harder you hit it the more it distorts- sound.tuner-austin-voodoo vibe-line6-boomerang-polytone. polytone distortion doesnt react-nobody thought it would anyway.

stuff never fails for me unless its ancient. use an effects case.

i play jazz blues latin, all kinds of stuff. on a jazz trio it gives you that overdrive if everything goes downtown blues. its subtle, if you want big they tell you to try something else.

Mine is the older style USA made pedal the new ones are made in Korea and Rocktron says they are the same circuit. I did a review of this pedal back in 2000. Then I screwed up and sold it and have been sorry ever since. I just found and bought a brand new old stock made in the USA Austin Gold, and it will never leave my possession. $41.00 on EBUY from a music store.

see my review in 2000 great pedal compliments every other pedal I have

like a tank

super people will actually call you back

If you can't find the USA made model it appears the Korean made one is getting very good reviews. Mine does not color the sound just like the one I reviewed in 2000. It just flat out will boost anything that is going through it with no color added, unless you want to add just a little by turning the gain up to max.

Noting to say. Can't be easier!
Realy good manual.(but without presets)

Gibson LP Studio+ Austin Gold Rocktron+ Marshall MasterLead 30 (solid)
Somtimes Gibson+AG Rocktron+ Danelectro Fabtone+ Marshall

No noise.

I play Hard-N-Heavy.
My Gear:
guitars: Gibson Les Paul Studio, Gibson F-V, Gibson SG STD
Amps: Marshall MasterLead 30 (solid), Marshall JCM 2000+ 4x12, Mesa Boogie Rectifier.
stompboxes: Rocktron Austin Gold, Boss HM-3, Ibanez TS-9, Vox Valvetone, Danelectro Fab Tone and Daddy O, Marshall JackHammer and Guv'nor...

very easy to dial up a "tone" with it. controls are simple and self explanatory. level,drive and pre-bass.

im using this with a variety of guitars from tele's to my peavey destiny customs. plugging into a couple of peavey classic 50 410 combo amps. my rig goes as follows. guitar-route 66-austin gold overdrive-ibanez ts9 tube screamer-vertigo vibe-short timer delay-peavey classic 50 amps. not as fuzzy as the ts9 or rt.66 but falls beautifully into the slightly boosted tone i've been looking for. when used with a compressor before the austin gold i can get really close to will ray of the hellecasters tone on "sweet dreams". this pedal really "boosts" your tone without coloring it.

i would gig without a backup. pedal is well built. ive used rocktron gear in the past and never had a problem.

called with some questions and they responded via phone within a half hour. who else in the business can say that!!!!

ive been playing professionally and semi-professionally for over ten years. i play everything from top 40 country to blues,classic rock etc. this pedal really stands on its own with everything ive thrown at it. if noise rock or grunge is your thing then this is not a standalone distortion pedal although it would work great to boost what you have already, which is what it is intended for. if it were stolen i would have to buy another one,it's a key part of my rig. this pedal really delivered what ive been looking for. a slightly overdriven tone that boosts my amp. now i can get that creamy clean sound with just a hint of break-up on the top end. really expressive sound. works really well with ballad solos that need some emotional tone that have a weeping quality about them. this pedal does help me achieve what i love to do:play guitar with a tone that speaks volumes with one note. keep your eyes peeled for pro's who will be slipping this pedal into their rig,especially the new-country players.

As others have said, it's got three knobs.

I'm running a MIM Nashville Tele into a '73 Super Reverb. Depending on what I'm playing (rock vs. blues vs. alt-country) I'll use a Marshall Bluesbreaker, BOSS DS-1, and/or BOSS Compressor. I bought the Austin Gold to get some just-starting-to-break-up at lower volumes and as a push for leads when I can turn the Super up louder at gigs.

My first impression while playing in the house by myself was that this pedal didn't cut it. It seemed to have too much high end even with the pre-bass all the way up and barely any overdrive sound. So after several hours of tweaking, I was seriously thinking of sending it back.

But then I had a band audition and used the Austin Gold. It was like a different beast altogether. Really seemed to let me tones stand out in the mix (against drums, bass, acoustic guitar and vocals) without stepping on anyone else. I used the compressor before it as a boost for leads and I got a real nice tone. A little extra fur but not so much as to loose th detail.

We didn't play any old Stones but I can understand the comparisons that some other reviews gave.

n/a. 1 week old.

n/a. 1 week old.

My first pedal choice for filling this light overdrive/boost was the Xotic RC or AC. But I could not justify paying $175 when I'm lucky to pull in $100 a year from playing guitar. I tried out other less expensive pedals (tube screamer, guyatone, Digitech, etc.) but they all seemed to color the sound or have too much overdrive. Some very cool pedals but not what I was looking for. So I bought the Austin Gold based soley on reviews. At this point, I'm very happy.

3 knobs,level,gain,pre bass.Twist or turn,listen and you've got it

The first reviewer said it all,only I didn't believe him when I read his review in 99.He said he could get that Stones chunk which really came from their 60's Ampeg VT amps heard on the album sticky fingers and especially their live album "get yer ya yas out"( see the live movie done at Altamont) .Anyway he was right and so was RAYE,the 3rd writer from the bottom.This pedal has got the sound.I think it's a pedal that will probably only appeal to a certain few,not neccesarily Stones listeners but the light overdrive really emulates an overdriven amp well. Most of todays noise makers aren't guitarists and don't appreciate a guitar hero of yesteryear.This pedal should be played through a tube amp using good pickups for the best sound.This is th older USA version I picked up new recently and am glad I did.

always bring spare batterys

never dealt with

Play rock,blues 35 years and this works well ith my Fender blues deluxe and strat.Works as both a clean boost and overdrive

This unit is very easy to use. 3 knobs; level, gain, prebass. The prebass is unique in that it allows you to dial in more or less bass ONLY, as opposed to some units which have tone controls. The manual is pretty simple and straight forward. Would be nice if there were some sample settings. One small problem I had. I had to open up the unit and blow it out, as the pots were very dirty and noisy. This helped tremendously. No noise now.........

I play a Dolan Custom guitar(strat style)>Boss compressor>AG>Reverend Hellhound. Boss DD3 and volume pedal in the loop. Even with all the junk in the way, the AG sounds great. You can get somewhat of a "violin" type sound with the prebass up and dialing out some treble in the amp. You can, obviously, get somewhat of a Stevie Ray tone.

But here's one point I'd like to make clear. I've never tried the Klon or Cold Fusion. Those pedals are FAR more expensive. 12 week leadtimes make them even less appealing. I cannot imagine that these distortion pedals would sound 6 times better than the AG, though they cost that much more. The AG is a very good pedal, especially for the money. It doesn't blow me away. It's pretty transparent and really makes my Reverend sing. Pedals like this can sometimes be hard to judge. If you have a crappy setup, guess what?????........Also, it's pretty quiet. I'll give it a 10 because, relatively speaking, it exceed my expectations.

Other than the afformentioned pot problems, so far, so good. Not flimsily constructed. Looks good.

I like this pedal alot and will continue to use it in my setup. I play alot of styles from R&R to R&B. Been playing for about 25 years. Aside from the Revened amp, I own a Koch Multitone. The Reverend is more reliable, but is a one-trick-pony. This pedal turn my rig into one of the most versatile setups I've ever had. For what the AG adds to my rig, I give it a 10. Great value for the money......

Not difficult at all. Three knobs: Level, Drive, and Prebass. The manual is a manual. Not much there, no sample settings. Getting a good sound isn't difficult at all.

I bought this pedal because of all of the excellent reviews. On this board, everything seems to get a ten. This is not a ten, but it is a very good pedal for the value. My criticisms are not a knock on this pedal-just trying to give a realistic review.
I'm using an Ibanez Artstar AS180 (335 copy) or Tokai Goldstar Sounds '57 Strat replica>ZVex Sho>BiComprossor>Austin Gold>Ad9> Revrend Hellhound. I've had this for some time now and have used it with this set-up exclusively. I play in a roots rock/alt-country band and study jazz. This setup suits my needs currently.
First thing-this is not going to give you alot of overdrive. Its there to augment what your tubes are already doing. In clean boost mode (Level dimed, Drive at zero) there is a slight volume drop. I notice a little bit of high end added to the sound when I put this pedal on. The pre-bass certainly helps, but it is noticeable to my ears.
The SHO into the Bicomp really starts to drive the tubes and if I want a boost in a lead or a little more grit to my leads or chords, this will do it. The grit, IMHO, can be a little processed sounding if you use too much drive. With my amp cranked and the Zvex dimed, I only needed a little bit of drive (drive at 11pm) to get some Metal chunk-no kidding. However, this pedal isn't meant to do this.
I've used a TS9, Rat, SD-1, and an SD-1/808 modded by Analogman. I've gotten rid of everything but the SD-1/808. The SD-1/808 has much more gain but is less transparent and is much noiser in my chain. The Austin Gold is silent compared to the SD-1. These two pedals are different breed of the same animal. The Rocktron has currently replaced my SD-1/808.
The Rocktron Austin Gold is not a Klon. Its not a Tubescreamer. Its not really a clean boost. Its what I like to think of as a "helper pedal." It can do these things in its own way, but its my opinion that its there to augment the rig you already have. In this way, it does it well. I get a very nice Vox approximation and Fender sound with the Hellhound. This allows me to get to that Stones territory, without the utterly coloring the sound, like some of the other pedals I've used does.
Bottom line-This is not my ultimate drive. I'm still looking. The best sound I've gotten was Gtr>ZVEX>AD-9>Dr. Z MAZ-38 2x10 combo. I'll have to wait until I get a hefty raise at my day job or if I do a massive gear selloff before I am there. The Rocktron gives me good grit on chords without coloring them. My leads are still not as thick as I need, but perhaps I need to tweak a bit more.

I haven't used it out yet. It looks solid, but I'll find out very shortly.

My band does alt-country/roots rock. I guess its close to Wilco and the Tragically Hip. It fits my low to mid drive needs well. I don't use it at all for jazz, obviously.
I've been playing for about 16 years and am not much of a gear whore. If I hear something I like, I try it on my rig and then buy it. This pedal worked for me on this particular rig. I'd love to hear what it does on the DR. Z I've been lusting after.
If it were stolen, I'd probably get a new one, but at this point, my drive quest is not over.

Three knobs...easy as can be. Level is volume. Drive is drive and pre-bass subdues bass response(turned left) increase bass(low-end) response turned right. Essentially, to the ear, this adds "warmth."

This peadl is not an overdrive in the mormal sense. Although the drive will add pre-amp-type overdrive distortion if turned high, it resmbles the effect one would have on a tube amp when the power amp is turned down and the pre-amps are turned higher. It achieves a very clean pre-amp saturation. This is absolutely beautiful as a clean channel volume boost. Crystal clear and WARM! My set-ip is an Anderson Hollow Tele(or a hardtail American Big Apple Strat, a 77 Ibanez LP copy) into a ZVex SHO, Rocktron Austin Gold, Voodoo Lab Superfuzz, Voodoo Analog chorus, Ibanez soundtank tremolo. Ibanez digital dely into a Hughes and Kettner Tube 50 slaved out to a Madison 215 cabinet. The pedal seems to be very quiet.

Haven't had it for long, but I don't jump on my pedals. Appears to be built soundly.

Not had to deal with.

I have been playing for 30 years. Although I play many different styles. I have settled into stuff that relies on the sound of great tube amps(Hughes and Kettner Duotone ) and pedals that allow my choices of guitars to ring through. Too many overdrive pedals(I have many)color the sound of your guitar and amp. This pedal adds some warmth and SUPERB decibal boost, but no sound change.

Simple controls. No setting is less than good,
and with a few seconds' effort twiddling, you
can dial in something just right.

The manual is better than average for one
supplied with a stompbox.

The battery compartment is unusual, but workable
(so long as you pay attention.)

The pedal itself is heavy enough to stay where
you put it -- no levitating plastic junk.

My guitar of choice is a stock '77 Strat, or any
other Strat. I like an overdriven sound, but not
the syrupy Santana / violin midrange thing. I
like to keep things crisp and defined, but with
some growl. It's an elusive combination sometimes,
and regular fuzzes (from Tubescreamers on up)
sound too honky and flabby to me. Not so the AG.

I've used this with 3 different amps, all of which
I love for different reasons. The pedal just gives
me more of what I already have.

On a Carvin 16/5, I dial up the amp's drive to about
2 o'clock, then let the AG do the rest of the work.
That amp has never sounded better. With a silverface
Princeton Reverb, I get the same sweet 6v6 fur, but
there's more of it than before. On a 60-watt Fender
Concert (the Rivera model) I get that huge, heavenly
round 6L6 thing, with that little extra bit of
"sing" that the amp by itself had previously lacked
(at least at "no-police" volume levels.) I'll be
able to play that amp a lot more often now --
that's a nice development.

I like the fact that there's no "tone control"
in the classic sense -- only the "pre-bass."
I'm convinced that tone controls are the problem
on most overdrive / fuzz units. They always seem
to thin out the sound, or else make it horribly
midrange-heavy.

Again, not so here. The mids and highs are largely
unaffected as they pass through the circuitry.
The pre-bass is there so that you can dial in
or dial out lows. They got it right.

My unit had apparently been bought previously,
then returned. The prior owner had managed to
let the strap in the unusual battery clip slip
inside the unit, and with it had gone the battery.
So I had an adventure taking the unit apart before
I had played a note -- there was no fishing it
out. This annoyed me (tho it wasn't the unit's fault)
and I was half-expecting the sound to let me down
too.

Quite the contrary. It's pretty much exactly
the sound I've been after, with no gimmicks.
Now I can pack up my failed experiments (Guyatone
OD2, plus several supposedly subtle distortion
boxes) and sell them off. Maybe I'll buy a second
Austin Gold with some of the proceeds...
Excellent.

I have one of the newer, apparently less heavyweight
units, but it seems to be quite sturdy and
well-assembled compared to most of what I see.

The knobs are protected somewhat by a raised ledge
in the housing, and the on-off stomp switch
engages more convincingly than any other switch
I've heard lately.

I'm not a road-warrior, but I have to think that
this box will be a survivor even under demanding
conditions.

I may buy a second just so that I'll never have
pay collector prices if I do manage to break it
somehow.

No idea.

A huge bargain at $59. I was on the verge of
giving up on standard-production pedals and
sticking a toe into the boutique-pedal pool.

Now, as I say above, I may just buy a second
one of these instead, in case mine breaks and
they've gone out of production in the mean time.

I'm kind of a purist sonically -- I don't
care for effects in general. But this one is
very definitely a grownup-sounding keeper.
A good design, well executed, and my only
all-10 product review to date.

I bought this overdrive unit to enhance playing blues harp thru a Danelectro DM25 tube amp. The controls work very subtly with one another, which gives you great control. I found this pedal much easier to adjust than the volume/master-volume gain controls on amps I've played thru. As with any new piece of gear, I had to spend adequate time playing with the adjustments... to find my sound.

One advantage of using these pedals is they're affordable, so you can buy one for each type of harp mic (or I suppose guitar for that matter) you play thru and never have to make any adjustments once you've got them set up to your liking. I found the pre-bass adjustment helps bring out the best sound in your mic element and your brand of harp.

I like the original style pedal (rather than the newer cheaper model) because the control knobs are protected from being kicked around, plus it's built like a brick shit house. If you keep an eye out, you can still find the original model.

No experience.

I'm an intermediate level blues harp closet-musician, so I haven't had a ton of experience with a lot of different gear. But I am trying to learn enough about music gear & technology to achieve good sound and... hopefully keep from electrocuting myself. I used harmony-central and other internet resources in making the decision to buy this overdrive pedal. And once I discovered how well it works for my needs... I bought more of them.

Very easy to get a good sound.

I have to rate the sound quality very hard since it gives me what I was after. It boosts the guitar's sound without a whole lot of gain or coloration or noise. I am using this with single coils.

Looks sturdy enough. Haven't looked inside though.

I doubt that I will ever need this.

I play rock and blues. Tele and Strat through a class a Trace Elliott Velocette. It pushes the amp very well. I have tried a lot of o.d. pedals and was getting tired of all the coloration being thrown at my amp. This device is a good thing. Good value.

Its pretty easy, only 3 dials: Level, Drive, and Pre-bass. Level boosts the level, drive seem to add a bit of "crunch" to the signal, and Pre-bass gives it some meat - more mids than bass but I could be wrong there. I didn't get a manual with it but no matter - I like it

I love the sound this thing has which is almost nothing - if the dials are set correctly, it will not color your signal, just boost it considerably (30db according to documents and stuff I have read.) You can dial up the Drive and Pre-bass to give it some edge but it not overboard - very mild. This pdeal is more like a spice than it is meat and potatoes. I bought it because I wanted to overdrive the front of my Class A tube amp (Gibson GA-15RV) into tube blistering oblivion without the mud and "distored" sound of a normal overdrive pedal - it does that extremely well. I run the Gibson in triode mode (about 6W) and turn the guitar all the way up, without the AG on. It is the most awesome tube melting sound in the world - then I kick in the AG and it is blister popping tube melting sound uncolored. It is not true-bypass. Haven't cracked it open to see if it can be modified for that either. I plan to at some point. If you want a pedal that will not color your sound at all but boost the snot out of it, this is a great pedal to have. It can also add some good edge to it which I like. There were two versions made, one with round dials recessed in a huge aluminum block and the latter version with chicken head knobs on the less fancy case. I have the first.

I could run over this with a truck and it probably would not get damaged. It is literally a block of aluminum machined and polished and it has fairly thick walls. I think the second version with the less impressive case was to save cost. The original case is awesome.

Never called.

I love this pedal but it may seem disappointing to some. This pedal will not be good for a solid state amp as it will probably set the front end on fire. For a tube amp, this pedal is great, it will make those tubes scream.

3 knobs: Level, Drive, and Pre-Bass

I had read about this pedal, and I like the construction and quality of my other Rocktron pedals (I don?t really like the newer ones). I already have a clean boost (PE Germ), but for the price I decided to buy the Austin Gold. It does a nice clean boost, although it is not really transparent. The overdrive is nice and smooth.

The old Rocktron pedals are extremely well built.

I am addicted to overdrives, and this one?s definitely a keeper. I tend to use this one mostly for blues and some classic rock. Given the inflated prices of overdrives these days, it was nice to find a good overdrive at a decent price. It?s a simple pedal, does what it?s supposed to, and seems pretty reliable.

Extremely easy to use.

DO NOT CONFUSE THIS OVERDRIVE PEDAL WITH TUBESCREAMERS AND SIMILAR TYPE OVERDRIVES. This pedal mainly is as advertised it will boost whatever is going through it, extremely clean and clear. I use it for that feature, only to boost my solos. I had a Boss EQ that I tested for the same use and the Rocktron is superior in every way. It is very quiet. If you are looking for a pedal that will enhance the sound of anything going through it this is the pedal. It will not sound like a tubescreamer no way. It is not advertised to do that anyway. So, since it does exactly what Rocktron says it will do it and no more or less it gets a 10.

Built like a tank. Has the feel of quality. USA made.

Playing 40+ years. Loud clean Rockabilly/Classic Vintage Rock/Early Country. This pedal is a steal if you want a high quality pedal to boost the volume of your sound without any added color. It makes my tubescreamer scream. I think they can be had cheap because of having the name "OVERDRIVE" on the pedal. This makes people expect a Tubescreamer overdriven type sound. If that is what you expect it to sound like it will be very unsatisfactory. Rocktron should re-think the naming and marketing of this pedal. I suspect they will not continue making it or maybe they already have discontinued it. Again since it does EXACTLY what Rocktron says it will do, it gets a 10 in my line up. Definately would buy another one if it were lost or stolen

It`s dead easy - it only has the three "normal" controls.
Level, drive and tone (it`s called "pre-bass").
I give an 8 simply because of the pre-bass control - I like
staightforward and consider the pre-bass control a "little too much".

I`ve had a pedal that I love this much.
First of all - it doesn`t have a lot of gain in it.
Second - it doesn`t coloiur the sonud at all - it just adds that little "extra".

The Roctron pedals are tank-like built.

I`ve bought from a store a long way from home and they have really been great to me. Really!!!

I like to push the already touch-sensitiv overdrive sound in
my amp too get some extra juice for solos and for "stronger" parts.
It`s the best clean boost AND the best "ground sound" pedal I`ve ever
tried and I`ve had a lot!!!

This pedal is as simple as they come. One on/off switch, three controls (level, drive, and pre-bass). The pre-bass adjusts the level of bass added to the signal, which breaks up a tube amp more easily. It didn't come with a manual because I bought it used, but you can't figure out how it works you've got larger problems.

I have a Fender Blues Junior through which I play either an American Strat, a Les Paul DC Studio, or a Mexican Tele. This pedal is perfect for me because as the Blues Junior is a one-channel amp I wanted something switchable that would still *sound* like the amp, not some pseudo-tube-overdrive-emulating piece of junk. The Austin Gold is an up-to-30dB boost (not fuzz/distortion) which will naturally overdrive your amp (preferably tube). Therefore, the sound is only as good as your amp's overdriven sound. For my setup, it produces a very natural-sounding overdrive that does not alter or override either the inherent tone of the guitar or the amplifier. And that was what I was looking for. It's a little bit more trebly vis-a-vis my amp's overdrive, but it's not very noticeable and is more than sufficient for live playing.

I have a Rocktron Tsunami Chorus as well which is equally well-constructed. I trust these guys.The knobs are set back which is good, and the metal housing (no plastic anywhere!) looks extremely sturdy. Actually, the previous owner must have dropped it because there's a ding on the lower corner, but it works great. I have no reason to believe that this thing would crap out on me for no reason - Rocktron is a trustworthy company IMO.

N/A

I play a lot of clean stuff with a bluesy/classic rock edge - my tastes don't venture towards metal or real hard rock these days. But for what I play, the Austin Gold is perfect - it's got about as much overdrive as a Fender Blues Junior with the preamp dimed (or is it twelved?), which is plenty for me. I've been playing consistently for over ten years, in bands for seven. If this pedal were stolen or lost, I would definitely repurchase it. It is exactly what I was looking for. I had almost sold my Blues Jr to upgrade to a Hot Rod Deluxe because of the difficulty of playing live with one channel. But I'm totally satisfied now. Granted, you don't get the saturation that the Hot Rod amps provide, but those things overpower your guitar so much that it's nearly impossible to tell what kind of guitar you're playing. (IMHO) Anyway, this is a simple pedal that snobby tone purists such as myself will love to use. I compared it to countless overdrive/fuzz/distortion pedals and *none* of them came close to the wonderful natural overdriven sound of my amp - not the Daddy-O, not the Marshall Bluesbreaker, not the BOSS whatever-it-is, and certainly not anything DOD makes. You turn this thing on and it doesn't scream, "hey, I'm a guitar effect!!" It's just there and it sounds really nice. If you're looking for an overdrive pedal that creates real amp overdrive without nasal-sounding coloration, this pedal might be ideal.

Extremely easy to use. Features Level, Drive, and Pre-Bass (tone). With the Drive set at 12:00, the level set at 10:00 matches the no effects level of your amp.

I play a Les Paul copy with SD Pearly Gate and 59 PU's, a PRS Custom 24, and a 79 Strat through a 70's Dual Showman Reverb (think Twin)amp run into a Marshall 1960 Vintage cab. I am a must have clean tone fan, however, every now and then I crave a little "chunkiness" to get a Stones Exile on Main Street groove. I have searched for years to get a stomp box to deliver the goods. I tried Boss, Ibanez, DOD, Marshall, etc. with no luck. This Rocktron pedal finally delivered the tone I craved. This pedal gives you the overdriven tube amp tone that allows you to hear the notes of a strummed chord instead of different colors of "mud" that you get with other pedals. This is a must have pedal for owners of non distortion equipped Fender amps if you need some "chunk" that will not distract from the beauty of your amps clean tone. This is a "no metal-pedal", at max drive you get a strong, very warm, Keith Richards "Can't you hear me knockin'" tone. So, if you desire to accent your clean amp, you will love this pedal.

This is a very rugged metal pedal. You do need a screwdriver to access the battery compartment though.

No problems so far....

This pedal is the truth if the truth you seek is warmth and chunkiness that allows you to hear the individual notes of a strummed chord.